Uproar over Pa. plan for guns

HARRISBURG - Conspiracy, idiocy or just plain political opportunity?

When it comes to the issue of guns in Pennsylvania, the answer depends on geography - or so suggests the latest flap over Gov. Rendell's decision to shut down the state's instant background check system for gun purchases between Sept. 2 and 6.

The reason: much-needed computer upgrades.

The fallout: people won't be able to buy guns for four days - four days that coincide with the start of hunting season, when doves and early Canada geese become fair game, hunting enthusiasts say.

Anger around the Capitol is palpable. And at least one top Republican says it's an effort by "liberals from Philadelphia" to do back-door gun control.

"This is a slap in the face to the law-abiding citizens of the commonwealth who wish to purchase a gun during this time," Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati (R., Jefferson) said in a statement issued this week.

Scarnati, a conservative whose north-central and northwest district is one of the state's most rural, added: "I am concerned that this is just another attempt by liberals from Philadelphia to limit the rights of gun owners and those who wish to become a gun owner."

Scarnati did not return phone calls yesterday to elaborate.

He is not the only one expressing concerns about the shutdown - though others are not as quick to blame liberals.

Sportsmen's groups said that whoever picked Labor Day weekend for the shutdown clearly doesn't understand hunting. Because that period is the start of hunting season, interest in buying shotguns spikes. Stores can remain open to sell other hunting supplies.

Said Melody Zullinger, executive director of the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, which represents about 100,000 sportsmen and women: "I don't think the shutdown was initiated by Philly's liberals. I guess some people could lump it that way because Rendell is from Philly.

"I just think that the administration, given their liberal bent, didn't stop to think," she said.

House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, a Western Pennsylvania Democrat who is a gun-rights advocate, put it this way: "I believe that this is a moment of administrative maladroitness on the part of the chain of command.

"I would be stupefied if there was a sinister cabal within the Rendell administration to engender mischief," he said, adding that he believed Scarnati was "just enjoying what he considers a delicious opportunity to foment the L word."

Chuck Ardo, Rendell's spokesman, said there was no conspiracy.

The state's instant background check system has to be shut down for database upgrades. According to the state police, arrest and other criminal history records before 1981 will be added. A background check is required to buy a handgun, rifle or shotgun.

Alternatives to the early September shutdown were considered, but the administration determined that Labor Day weekend was the best time, Ardo said.

State police spokesman Jack Lewis added that his department did some research before choosing the dates. Police looked at the average volume of gun sales in September for the last six years and found that the average number of requests for guns is 385 during the first week of the month - but that it jumps to more than 900 for the second, third and fourth weeks of September.

"I think this is much ado about very little," Ardo said of the political flap. "And all the political theater about this being a threat to the Second Amendment is just a matter of bad acting."